West Brom vs West Ham

February 11, 2011
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

It has just been confirmed that Roy Hodgson has taken over the reigns at West Brom, but the Baggies enter this crunch tie with Michael Appleton on the bench. West Ham returned to rock bottom as they lost to Birmingham and another defeat to relegation rivals could prove very costly.

Can Roy Hodgson save West Brom?

Following the amazing start to the Premiership season, West Brom have really started to struggle at the beginning of December and the Baggies are still unable to arrest their poor run of results. Their performances are not as bad as the results would suggest, which is why I believe the club management was mad to sack Roberto Di Matteo, although they have succeeded in bringing Roy Hodgson to the bench. The experienced manager will take over the reigns after this clash, with coach Michael Appleton set to lead the Baggies against West Ham. The hosts desperately need a victory in order to boost their survival chances and they will attack the Hammers from the off, although they could have problems at the back, having conceded at least two goals in every one of their last four games.

Coach Michael Appleton has absolutely no injury worries as Marek Cech and Graham Dorrans are ready to play.

West Ham missed a great chance

West Ham missed a great chance to finally escape the relegation zone as they lost to Birmingham at home despite outplaying their opponents for large periods of the game. The Hammers showed glimpses of quality against Brum and we could see that new signings Keane, Ba, Bridge and O’Neil have added certain quality to the side, and they were unlucky not to get anything from the game. Avram Grant’s side will have another chance to improve their survival chances as they could overturn out-of-form West Brom in the standings with three points from Hawthorns, so the visitors will probably be looking to win this game. They, too, have problems at the back, but their attack is doing just fine and the game against Birmingham was the first after quite a while in which they failed to score.

Robbie Keane is doubtful with injury, just like defenders Matthew Upson and James Tomkins, but Manuel Da Costa is available. Thomas Hitzlsperger is nearing his return from injury.

Verdict

Both sides are in very difficult position even though they have enough quality to survive, so we can expect both West Brom and West Ham to try and win this game. Everything suggests we will see a very open game, with teams’ leaky defences guaranteeing us lots of goals.

Our prediction: Over 2.5 goals

Odds: 1.80 (4/5)

Bookmaker: Betfair

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